Fishbones - St. Clair Shores — Restaurant in Saint Clair Shores

Having been a former resident of St. Clair Shores, I was excited to finally try Fishbones after hearing about it for years.. Unfortunately , the experience was underwhelming at best.

Upon entry, me and my wife were impressed with the ambiance. It's a large, well decorated, classy, comfortable space. We were immediately excited and were fully anticipating a nice dining experience.

We started with drinks. My wife ordered the Paper Airplane cocktail and I ordered a Dewars straight up. My wife's drink was understandably pricier being a cocktail, but my (cheaper brand) scotch ended up being the same price, which was a bit annoying.

We were starving when we arrived. So, we ordered crab cakes to start almost as soon as we received the menu. These were VERY disappointing considering they're $25. The two patties were soggy, flavorless, and very small. They were no bigger than 3 1/2" around and were less than an inch think. They came with a sauce that was clearly just whipped mustard and mayo.. Kinda gross.. I've seriously had better crab cakes from the frozen section at Aldi (not an exaggeration).

As for our entrees, I ordered the Icelandic Cod Fish and Chips and my wife ordered the Crawfish Etouffee. Aside from my cod being sad, small portions, it was just gross. It was soggy, over fried, and aside from tasting like old fry oil, it was flavorless. The small, gross filets we accompanied by a MOUNTAIN of French fries that were okay.. but no better than what you'd get at any other chain restaurant. The amount of fries that came with the meal made it almost seem like they were trying to compensate for the sad amount of fish it came with.. This meal was absolutely not worth $28. I've had better fish and chips at hole-in-the wall diners for less than half the price. My wife's etouffee was definitely the better of the two meals. But again, it was flavorless, small portions that they should not be charging almost $30 for.

Being that the overall meal was wholly disappointing, we decided to cap it off with bread pudding for dessert... Can't really mess up bread pudding right?? WRONG. The bread pudding came out and we were disappointed yet again. They were brought to the table and they immediately looked unappealing. The two small, flat, rubbery bread puddings were both burnt and flavorless yet angain. After one bite, we both decided we'd had enough.

I will say, our server was pleasant and the service was good overall. Nothing bad to say about the wait staff.. However, we will not be returning to Fishbones. We genuinely feel like we'd been ripped off. For an establishment that presents themselves as a classier seafood joint, this was wildly disappointing. Overall, the food was gross and not even close to being worth what we paid for it.

Save yourself the trip and don't waste your money. You'll find better food at a greasy spoon for...

I think the most importing about my review is to let others know to look at how they respond to other negative reviews. Telling customers they will give them zeros stars as a guest. Beyond childish and frankly pathetic! Places like this do not deserve to be this busy. Take note, all that construction happening on the corner and budgets getting tighter, you may not want to hold your heads so high, the Shores has so many other places to dine that deserve your business! But onto my review.

We dined with another couple on 2/11 and my girlfriend had the Ribeye. Our service was ok, but the waitress didn't ask about how the steak was before she left the table. We assumed she would come back but never did. The steak was fatty and just gross. We would have sent it back but she was hungry and no one ever came back to us, only to bring the bill. My meal was just ok, and the other couple said thiers was great, but could have just been polite. She only ate a little bit and left the majority, we ask for a box to take it to the dogs. You would think this would have been an indication to the waitress to ask was something wrong seeing how much was left, but she didn't. Now in all fairness we should have said something, but we were with another couple and had to get going. So I called the next day and spoke to the manager named Sam, she was very concerned and told me her boss would be calling me the next day, but he never did. So I followed up a week later and was told the same thing and assured me it's on her desk and will hear from him tomorrow. We'll tomorrow came and nothing. I waited a week to write this review just to be fair but obviously they do not care. I don't know what's worse, spending hard earned money on a garbage meal, or being lied to about getting a call back. Either way just ridiculous, I was willing to let them make it right but they clearly do not want to, and I have zero interest in support or ever suggesting this restaurant ever again. I have never left a negative review for a business as I understand things happen and I gave them more than enough time and opportunity to make it right.

Also, take note of the required 18% gratuity. I think it's ridiculous that you are required to leave a certain percent. This does more harm to your staff than good. I always leave 20% or better. With just ok service and a bad meal. I waited for my change rather...

My initial experience at Fishbone was quite disappointing and I doubt I will return. I attended a 70th birthday party there. The party began at 5pm with only one waitress serving a group of 30-40 people. Our bill was incorrect and the waitress displayed a very unpleasant attitude whenever I requested something. I took this personally as the party consisted of minorities. She never introduced herself, but I later learned her name was Rachel or Michelle from her manager. The waitress did not return to check if everything was satisfactory or inquire about the food. It took until the end of the party for my son to receive his second drink that he had been asking for two hours prior. Upon noticing charges on the bill for items we did not order, the waitress immediately became defensive. I sent my son to find a manager to address the issue, and the manager removed the incorrect charges. However, there was still a $167 discrepancy. One of the guests offered to pay the bill to avoid conflict. I believe the other lady who paid the difference was from a different table, which I found to be unacceptable. It is disappointing that the restaurant does not allow split payments by table by per family/friend group and automatically adds an 18% gratuity no matter the size of the party. She also informed me that payment must be made in cash, or paying by card, the full amount must be charged to a single card. Cash payments to individuals are not accepted, so I needed to withdraw cash from an ATM, incurring a fee 3.50, to then give the cash to the manager. However, the manager ultimately processed the payment on a card and took the cash. She mentioned that this procedure was not allowed with her head shaking and harsh tone. It seems the waitress did not care about her behavior as she knew she would receive a tip regardless of her service. Additionally, the portion sizes were small and the food was poorly seasoned. In conclusion, I would rate this restaurant poorly due to the subpar service and food quality. It is essential to have better servers with a more pleasant demeanor who are better suited for the role of a server! She inadvertently highlighted a less-than-ideal memory from what was meant to be a joyous seventh birthday...